Birds
by robot-keayleuu
Summary: After Obi-wan and Anakin become trapped on Adari, they find themselves reliant on each other in order to maintain their survival throughout the cold, attempting to deal with Anakin's strange new powers and the birds that watch over their bodies. (pending)
1. abandoned

**keayleuu:** The train station by my house has a billboard with a poster of Switzerland. I really, really like the mountains... so I guess my imagination took me where my legs couldn't.

Expect mentions of blood and M/M slash-it's always good to read with discretion. :X

* * *

'They're gone… They're really gone. They left us both behind.'

A trail of black smoke hung thick in the air where the Jedi cruiser had lifted off. If Obi-wan hadn't seen it himself, he wouldn't have believed it.

He crouched down in the snow-leggings soaked with melted snowflakes- several fine flakes of sleet caught in the strands of his hair. Anakin lay atop his cape bleeding and shivering atop the snow, a small crystal jutting out from the side of his hip. The crystal radiated with dark side energy and was lodged into Anakin like a part of his body. Two days of ice had frozen it in place and it's cold burned Obi-wan through his gloves as he tried to dig it out.

'I can't remove it,' Obi-wan sighed. 'And even if I could, you'd probably bleed to death-animals would be attracted to the smell. It hasn't touched anything vital and because of the ice it'll remain frozen in place; in a way, you're very lucky.'

'Lucky…' Anakin rolled the word in his mouth. 'They left us here because of this thing, didn't they? They Jedi are… afraid I might be channelling it's power. Go on your own, Obi-wan-call them with your holopad, and they'll respond to you. I'm the one they didn't want-just leave me behind and go ahead.'

'You speak as if you have a choice,' Obi-wan smiled at him, weakly. 'Get up-I'm not leaving you. It isn't the end for us yet.'

And with an outstretched hand, he'd saved Anakin- or at least kept him alive for another day.


	2. forsaken

**keayleuu:** updates will be around 700 words... I want to keep this thing neat. (for now, anyway)

I want to say thank you to **Mo Angel**, **LR**, **QueenYoda**,** pronker** and **Sechee** for their reviews: you have NO idea how happy it makes me to hear your thoughts! (very, very, very.)

* * *

With Anakin at his side Obi-wan stumbled across the ice, decidedly moving forward in search of civilisation. After two hours of waiting and several unresponsive holopad calls, Obi-wan had reached a conclusion: the Jedi weren't coming back.

They'd mutually agreed on silence because they both had a lot to think about. Anakin's eyes were pressed shut and he'd scrunched up his forehead, the small lines around his mouth betraying agony inside. Obi-wan, however was more focused on the Jedi: whatever reason they had for leaving them behind, he was sure it was a good one… at least, he hoped as much.

Even wounded, Anakin was stubborn and refused Obi-wan's repeated offers of help. Whenever Obi-wan moved close, the younger man would shoot him a disgusted look and move several feet away, as though his compassion was inappropriate. And Obi-wan would roll his eyes and murmur: 'grow up, Anakin,' before waiting a few moments, until the cycle would repeat itself.

As they progressed across the land, Anakin's movements became clumsier. He wandered empty-eyed and vacant across the tundra, stumbling over the frozen soil, barley managing to move his own weight. With every minute that passed for them, Anakin seemed to lose a hundred. His lips were beginning to split and turn blue, and when he spoke his voice was hoarse and dry.

'We're going to die here,' Anakin breathed.

Obi-wan ignored that comment-it radiated so strongly with dark-side energy that he knew its origins weren't Anakin's heart.

'The Jedi left us behind,' Anakin continued. 'They drove away without looking back. And they said they would wait: they lied to us, too.'

'I'm not listening- I don't want to talk to the crystal. I want to talk to the Anakin I know; addressee me when he takes control.' He waved away Anakin's words with a movement of his hand.

'You don't want to face the truth, Obi-wan! This isn't about the crystal- this is much deeper than that! What's happening to us now has been coming for quite some time,' Anakin trembled as if afraid of the words. 'The Clone wars have finished and the Jedi have no need for us-this is what this is: this is our eradication!'

'You're being brainwashed,' Obi-wan replied, stiffly. 'You're picking up so much dark side energy that it's taking over your mind. Listen to me, Anakin: are you prepared to throw away all those years of training and give in to this feeling? Do you really believe it's worth it all to toss aside your trust in everything you've ever known for one single moment of madness?'

'This isn't madness,' Anakin insisted. 'It's not from within! This crystal is alive and it's connected to the Force, and the Force is speaking to me, now-'

'And what?' Obi-wan snapped, turning to face Anakin. 'Just what does it tell you?' He demanded, angrily.

'That we have been forsaken,' Anakin whispered. Obi-wan shook his head in disbelief and turned to trudge on through the thickening snow; unable to conjure the right answer to that claim.


	3. still

Adari was a snowy planet famed for its mines and a squadron of Jedi had travelled there to harvest its Force crystals. An avalanche had struck and the crystals had been knocked loose, magnetized to the nearest force-receptive objects: in the case of the dark energy crystal, the object had been Anakin. Overall, the trip was unsuccessful: the other crystals had clustered together in a levitating heap of shards and with no reason to stay, the Jedi trudged back to their ship- unnoticing of Anakin who collapsed in the snow. There was someone, however who did pick up his absence-although Anakin was no longer his padawan, Obi-wan had a habit of always keeping him in his sights.

He couldn't have known that the Jedi would have left them behind, but even if he had, Obi-wan knew it wouldn't have changed his decision. He would have stayed with Anakin until the very end, throughout whatever came their way, through storm or sunshine, thick or thin, life or death, good or evil.

As they walked across the land a new day begun to dawn: Obi-wan's arm around Anakin's shoulder, supporting him as he walked. Not that they knew where they were going, of course: North, Obi-wan had decided, because the wind blew South and it was always a good idea to have your back to the cold. Anakin hadn't disagreed-he hadn't said anything- just tried to concentrate the energies in his body, immersed with the silent battle that raged inside his soul.

They reached a frozen river to find glaciers dotted among its surface, sharp and glinting in the cold sun. Obi-wan didn't know how long they'd been walking-they could have been standing on an ocean if it didn't move uphill.

'There's someone there-Obi-wan!'

Anakin had noticed the head of a person in the distance and squirmed free from Obi-wan, limping towards the figure.

'Maybe he can help us-'

'Anakin, no!'

At the last moment Obi-wan grabbed Anakin by his collar and hurled him backward as a gigantic, brown bird swooped down and cawed; bearing its claws and knocking Anakin to the ice. As Obi-wan helped him to his feet, they together observed the 'person' he'd discovered.

It was a body frozen into a cube of ice-what was left of the torso sticking up in mind. The skin on its ribs had been picked completely dry and its eye sockets were empty-its mouth open and gaping, several strands of grey hair blowing softly in the wind atop it's frozen skull.

'He was probably carried out here by the stream- judging by his appearance he's been here for quite some time. Come, Anakin-there's nothing we can do. Let's worry about our own situation for now.'

Anakin looked at the birds swarming the body's waist; pieces of skin rippling in their claws like silver fishes in the wind. More birds scratched at the bottom of the ice- attempting to free the lower half of the body.

'What happened to him?' Anakin asked, feeling numb. 'Did they Jedi leave him here, too? I wonder if we'll find a crystal stuck in his side-'

'Anakin, enough-I said come away!'

Anakin set his mouth into a hard line before following Obi-wan up the slope: leaving the dead man alone, to sleep silent in the ice.


End file.
